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Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The writer is the former global head of capital markets at Bank of America and is now a managing director at Seda Experts
On the TV show SeinfeldCostanza family celebrates An end-of-year secular holiday called Festivus, characterized by strange traditions such as “airing grievances” and “feats of strength.”
For investment bankers, their compensation arrives between mid-January and mid-February, when they are told their total compensation for the previous year.
When I started banking in the mid-1990s, Corporate Day rivaled any holiday in terms of drama and intensity. Doors slammed open, grown men (it was usually men) fought back tears, and impromptu champagne-filled celebrations spilled into nearby bars. The whole word crackles with raw emotion.
Today Corporate Day usually unfolds with all the ceremonies of a visit to the local post office. The modern banker is called into his boss's office via an email calendar invitation. The manager, armed with a spreadsheet and talking points vetted by HR, delivers the news with monotony For economics teacher Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
The script follows a precise formula. First comes the total compensation figure, followed by how it compares in percentage terms to last year. The manager then divides the bonus (or “variable compensation” in formal terms) into its components: the immediate cash portion and the amount paid in restricted stock. The granting schedule for stock awards is explained in precise detail – which stocks become available and in what year. The manager also announces the basic salary for the coming year.
The meeting concludes with gentle blessings – ranging from a metaphorical pat on the head about “recognition of your contribution” to gentle admonitions about “areas for development.”
It is possible to attribute the domestication of this celebration to various factors, not least the regulatory reforms that followed the financial crisis that turned bank bonus awards into slow-drip compensation. Higher base salaries and introduction “Role-Based Allowances” In Europe (to get around Bonus cap in the European Union) means that the reward is often not the make or break moment it once was. Intense public scrutiny of bank compensation has also imposed a kind of procedural rigor.
Furthermore, the elements of suspense and surprise have been largely eliminated. By January, performance reviews indicate the outcome, rumors of annual shake-up in the corporate group circulate, and leaks outpace senior management's efforts to contain them. Meanwhile, team leaders manage expectations.
Of course, bankers still lobby, plan, and grovel before corporate day, dutifully filling out online self-assessments and inflating their accomplishments. With large, cross-departmental teams handling deals, revenue attribution remains largely subjective, making it easy to claim credit for work that has barely been touched.
But it's pretty tame stuff. At one peak, a senior colleague gained notoriety by promoting a 10-page PowerPoint deck, including a league table of his trades just to show how bad the bank would be without him. When the story broke, it sparked a mixture of laughter, disbelief and grudging respect for sheer bitterness. I doubt that many people today would have the nerve to make such a move.
Even the feedback is being cleared now. Modern bankers know that any public display – jubilation or anger – can be used as a weapon against them. Get a big bonus? He feigned mild disappointment; You don't want the honchos to reconsider their generosity next year. Hardening? Make a stoic gesture and calmly ask for a follow-up conversation. The dramatic explosions of the past are (mostly) ancient relics like the works of Gordon Gekko. Brick phone Motorola. When I led teams, no direct report raised their voice or betrayed more than a flash of discontent, even when they were “outnumbered.”
Bankers know they are privileged, earning more than 99 percent of the population. But their sense of entitlement is not about absolute numbers, it is about comparisons. Nothing hurts more than feeling like a peer is taking you home more. When their companies don't measure up,… relative Injustice turns into suppressed bitterness.
Occasionally, you hear about a banker elsewhere losing their temper after receiving a “doughnut” (industry slang for zero) or a low bonus. These rare outbursts only serve to emphasize how far we have strayed from the old Storm and stress.
This shift reflects broader changes in investment banking, where the arrogant culture of previous decades has given way to something far more controlled and more conscious of optics and compliance. The annual bonus ritual has become another carefully managed corporate event, its rough edges smoothed by process, evolving office standards and corporate decorum.
So when you get your “number”, don't slam the door on your way out – this is against workplace conduct policy, and your employer may have grounds to reclaim your unvested shares!
